Snack Time

One of My favorite snacks is broccoli and almond butter. The reason I like it so much is because it’s going to keep your diet to complex carbs and Fats… Good fats.

Any first phase of the diet plan usually involves limiting your carbohydrate intake.

Take P90X for example. You might be surprised to learn that the first 30 days of the program involve shredding. This is the time that you are encouraged to eat very few carbs and increase your protein and good fat content. The idea behind it is simply that your glycogen levels will decrease and your body will have to use that in order to supply the energy source and needs.

Take it a step further it means that when you deplete your body of sugar and sugar reserves, then your body must switch over to a fat burning zone.

Most dietitians don’t recommend doing this long-term, however, I have seen people that have done it longer.

The most important thing is that you keep an eye on how you’re feeling. In general during these phases ketones will increase in your body. You can get Ketone strips online to test the levels in your body. (You just hold it in your urine stream). Look up info related to this (how to maintain healthy levels) I don’t want kidney failure for anyone. Too high is not good.

Essentially when we carbs we are burning sugar. Any sugar that is not used is stored in the liver which is also called glycogen. These are the levels that you have to deplete in order to switch over to burning fat for fuel instead of sugar.
The problem is that often when you deplete your sugar levels, your body is craving more to eat. As you feed it with things that don’t have sugar in it the body doesn’t recognize that it really has eaten.

So one of the problems is the feeling of hunger during this time/phase.

That’s why I encourage you to eat things like broccoli and almond butter or peanut butter. The sweetness of it tells your mind that you have eaten some carbs.

It really helps curb the feeling of hunger.
If you eat any simple carbs a.k.a. sugar, make sure that you do it right after a vigorous workout.

Some have suggested that this actually does your body good.

When you eat a lot of sugar in spikes your insulin levels.

For man is also spikes your testosterone levels.

Circling back to what P90X tells us. After 30 days they recommend moving to a more balanced diet of more carbohydrates.

Although they do say that you can continue your fat shredding dieting all the way through 60 days.